Video promotion

When it comes to getting your promotional video in front of its audience, be it the corporate video, the explainer, the vidcast etc., an important question is whether a “pull” or “push” approach is favoured.
This is one of the things we think about and advise on at the earliest stage on the project as it can have an impact on not only the video itself but on wider things within the client's business. We've seen it first hand.

Pull...

The “pull” approach relies on good keywording (SEO) of the video on e.g. YouTube. It is designed to make the video a magnet for Google searches. Naturally the success of this is predicated on proper optimisation being done. I've written a few blogs on this, because I believe in its importance and also our ability to help businesses in this area.
A key ingredient of this pull approach is that the content has to lend itself to being highly searchable and targeted. A great example would be content with niche subject or audience. Technical terms, specific product names, or brands can do well. For content marketing, videos phrased around answering questions, solving problems or delivering information can do well due to the adoption of 'semantic search' in Google; even better when paired with very niche words or phrases.
Some examples within our client portfolio are "What is Pregabalin?" (6,300 views), "How to use an electric toothbrush” (410,000 views). These solve SPECIFIC viewer needs.

...Or Push

The “push” approach is more suitable for general topics or where an audience is already waiting. We were recently asked whether we could help 'promote' some comedy sketches on YouTube. You'll probably appreciate that comedy is a very wide topic with a huge audience. Trying to get a video to rank in Google search for "comedy sketch" would be a significant endeavour i.e. the pull approach may not be best. This takes the marketing out of the realm of optimisation or SEO and into other areas.
If the video is to be pushed, it needs an audience to go to, so this needs to be built first. Social media is an ideal tool. We were able to use our expert in this area to help the client with a social media campaign to build the audience and push the sketches out to them. This leads to repeat viewership, social referral, and a wider audience. It can then lead to an audience to Subscribe on YouTube – creation of a fanbase. This contrasts with the likelihood of a fanbase developing for something like brushing teeth.
Having dealt with both ends of the spectrum, we're able to assess early on - in conjunction with the client – which method is the most suitable. Actions can then be taken even in advance of creation of the content – actions designed to generate success.